The Rural Voice, 1992-11, Page 14AN ALTERNATIVE
FALLOW DEER
BREEDING STOCK
FOR SALE
• Mature Does
• Fawns • Bucks
Whole Herd Tb. & Br.
Tested, Dec. 1991
Natural Organic Farming
Venison & Game Specialties
For The Gourmet
bPERTINGER -
RR 1 Ravenna, Ont NOH 2E0
Peter or Petra Erdelt
519-599-6643
1 tIOWAY FARMS
YORKSHIRE
LANDRACE
DUROC
HAMPSHIRE
Wayne Fear and Sons
F1 York x Land Gilts
F1 Hamp x Duroc Boars
Closed Herd "Good" Health Status
We presently have an
oversupply of York & Landrace
boars with very good
performance figures at a
very reasonable price.
We have a quality performance
boar to fit into your herd.
Give us a call.
Call Wayne or Paul at
(519) 887-6477
Fax 519-887-9837
Don Ruttan, Q.S. Rep.
(519) 887-9884
Farm 6 miles west of
Brussels on Huron County Rd 16
rifiz
10 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
Thoughts ort the I.P.M.
In 1993 "Bruce Beckons" as the
home for the International Plowing
Match. For the sponsoring county the
Match is a prize for promotion and
home town glory.
This year the
Match was held
just outside Lind-
say in Victoria
County. It was
the week when
summer returned
to an otherwise
summerless year
and farmers made
use of the warm,
sunny weather to
try and gather in
the remains of
their shattered
spring grain har-
vest. Farmers at
the I.P.M. were
almost as scarce as corn heat units.
As a social gathering — especially
for the retired, the school kids and the
exhibitors — the I.P.M. cannot be
surpassed. But as a place to come and
see what's new in agriculture, new in
equipment and what's new in supply
services, this annual gathering of rural
Ontario is falling short.
It's falling shoe for visitors and
exhibitors. In the tented city this year
there was a notable absence of some of
the major -line tractor manufacturers.
Some of their equipment was on
display, but it was there under the
banner of the local dealer. There were
absences in the seed companies,
chemical companies, farmstead farm
equipment and the banks. What was
once a provincial showcase of agri-
culture, production and cultivation is
now just a glorified regional farm
show and plowing match.
It used to be almost impossible to
get round the Tented City of the Plow-
ing Match in one day. This year it
proved to be no problem. With over
60 caterers at the match site there was
more to eat than there was to stimulate
the farm economy. In total there were
600 exhibitors but the trend seemed to
be to smaller space per exhibit with
the multinationals leaving the
groundwork to the local sales dealer
and staff.
The marketplace has changed, and
if Bruce County and then Renfrew in
1994 want to revive the intensity of the
Tented City, some hard selling will be
needed and innovative plans to draw
farmers to the show in order to make it
worth the effort and expense of
exhibiting. Business farmers don't
have a full day of spare time in the fall
for social visiting, as that's what the
match is now. It's not really a farm
show, as farm exhibits are spread out,
not concentrated.
With promotion budgets curtailed,
farm numbers shrinking and 20 per
cent of the farmers producing 80 per
cent to 90 per cern of the produce, it is
little wonder the the I.P.M. is facing a
crisis in direction.
I enjoy visiting the Plowing Match
each year, almost every year since
Hurricane Hazel — mud, snow, dust
and distance — I've always felt the
time was worth the effort. Now I'm
not so sure. It seems other people are
having the same doubts.
Bruce County is better located than
Lindsay in terms of commercial farms,
so exhibitors might support one more
I.P.M. After that a lot will depend on
how well the farm economy has
recovered. If it hasn't, the I.P.M. may
not, as presently operated.
There's always good plowing at the
annual International Plowing Match, in
fact this year the entries were greater,
but it's not the plowing that draws the
crowds. It's the crowds that pay the
bills. At $8 an adult to get in this year
it seemed a little steep to see what in
most cases can be seen at the local
dealerships. The parade was good, the
antique tractors were good and even
the new model cars were interesting —
but the draw for real professional
farmers was weak and that is where
the exhibitors of farm supplies test the
viability of their time and expense at a
five-day show like the I.P.M.
It seems that it is no longer
acceptable to companies to just go to
any show to "show the corporate
colours". The effort must be worth it
in hard bottom line dollars. And that's
difficult in agriculture today. It's
difficult to justify at the I.P.M. except
in a scaled down regional effort.0
Robert Mercer is editor of the
Broadwater Market Letter, a weekly
commodity and policy advisory letter
from Goodwood, Ontario LOC 1A0